Heating wire inserting apparatus



Aug. 11, 1970 TOSHIAKI mu:

HEATING WIRE INSERTING APPARATUS Fi led Feb. 7, 1968 4 Sheets-$heet 1 INVENTOR zsl-v' a i ATTORNEY.

Aug. 11, 1970 TOSHIAKI INUI HEATING WIRE INSERTING APPARATUS Filed Feb. '7, 1968 .4 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG .2

INVENTOR ATTORNEY! 1, 1970 TOSHIAKI mu] 3,523,430

HEATING WIRE INSERTING APPARATUS Filed Feb. 7, 1968 .4 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR ATTORNEY Aug. 11, 1970 TOSHIAKI lNUl HEATING WIRE INSERTING APPARATUS .4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Feb. 7, 1968 FIG. 6

W mm IIH m 7 FIG. 7

INVENT OR BY MWAM ATTORNEY.

United States Patent C) 3,523,430 HEATING WIRE INSERTIN'G APPARATUS Toshiaki Inui, 4-153 Gakuen Daiwacho, Nara, Japan Filed Feb. 7, 1968, Ser. No. 703,736 Int. Cl. D04b 23/12 US. Cl. 66-84 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An apparatus for knitting double fabrics with a warp knitting machine together with inserting and knitting bodily the insulatably coated heating wires with one process.

This invention relates to a heating wire inserting apparatus for inserting and integrally knitting insulatively coated heating wires in knitting double fabrics with a warp knitting machine.

A conventional electric blanket is made by arranging and stitching heating wires on a fabric separate from blanket fabrics, inserting the fabric between two blanket fabrics and stitching them on the periphery or by making many lateral pockets between both side fabrics in knitting double fabrics, inserting heating wires longer than the knitted width into said pockets and alternately connecting the ends of the respective heating wires so as to form a heater circuit. Therefore, in the case of the former, the heating wires must be arranged and stitched on a separate fabric and, in the case of the latter, many heating wires must be inserted into the pockets and connected. Therefore, in either case, the operation of forming the heater circuit is complicated, requires much time and further increases the cost of making blankets.

An object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus whereby heating wires can be inserted in knitting at the knitting speed in the warp knitting machine.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus whereby the knitting of fabrics and the insertion of heating wires can be made in one step.

The present invention is a heating wire inserting apparatus wherein a heating wire fitting device in which guide shaft bars supported at both ends with a rocking rod supporting many guide bars feeding warps and Wefts above needle beds of a warp knitting machine are provided with a guide laterally moving as connected with a piston rod of an air cylinder is provided so as to be rockable together with a guide bar group, engaging rods to engage heating wires at the time of the lateral movement of the above mentioned guide outside both ends of a needle bed and to help their fitting are provided rotatably in two directions parallel and perpendicularly to the needle bed by piston rods of air cylinders and a push-in rod to insert heating wires into theknitted parts of the fabrics is fixed to a rotary shaft of a rotary solenoid provided with the axis in parallel with the needle bed so that one long heating wire may be knitted while being inserted at the time of knitting double fabrics.

In the accompanying drawings:

FIG. 1 is an elevation showing an essential part of an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a vertically sectional side view on line AA in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a vertically sectional side view showing a knitting operation;

FIG. 4 is a vertically sectional side view showing another knitting operation;

FIG. 5 is an elevation of an essential part in the operating state shown in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a vertically sectional side view showing the state just after an electric heating wire is inserted into a knitted part;

3,523,430 Patented Aug. 11, 1970 FIG. 7 is an elevation of a tension adjusting device and cutting device for heating wires;

FIG. 8 is a plan view of the device shown in FIG. 7.

An embodiment of the present invention shall now be explained with reference to the drawings. A heating wire fitting device is provided in a guide bar group 3 of a rocking rod 2 provided above needle beds 1 and 11 consisting of a pair of front and rear beds of a warp knitting machine and having many guide bars fixed. That is to say, a guide 8 supported with guide shaft bars 5 fixed at both ends with a pair of arms 4 provided on the rocking rod 2 and laterally movable as connected with a driving rod 7 moved by a piston of an air cylinder 6 is supported. A pair of rollers 9 are provided in the lower part of the guide 8 so that a heating wire 10 may be fitted as engaged with said rollers 9. A heating wire engaging rod 13 driven by an air cylinder 12 is provided opposite the outside of each end of the needle beds 1 and 11. Said engaging rod 13 is provided to project horizontally on a vertical supporting shaft 14 rotated through degrees by the air cylinder 12 and is provided so as to be perpendicular to the needle bed as shown on the left side of FIG. 1 and to be reversely directed parallel with the needle bed as shown on the right side in FIG. 1. A push-in rod 17 is secured to a shaft 16 rotated through 90 degrees with a rotary solenoid 15 so that the heating wire 10 may be inserted into the knitted part of the fabric. A pair of spring plates 18 provided above the apparatus are to eliminate the relaxation of the heating wire 10. Further, as shown in FIG. 7, a tension or slack adjusting device for the heating wire is made by providing a tensioning roller 20 moved forward and rearward by an air cylinder 19 oppositely between a pair of guide rollers 21, 21 so that the roller 20 may retreat (to be in the position shown by the solid lines) in case said guide 8 moves laterally and the heating wire 10 is to be fitted but may advance to be in the position shown by the broken lines and to tension the heating wire when the guide 8 stops. The cutting device is to cut the heating wire when it has been knitted in by a required length. A blade rod 22 is of a link mechanism and is provided as pulled by a spring 23 so as to carry out a cutting operation by the operation of a solenoid 24. The above mentioned tension adjusting device and cutting device can be either directly fitted to the warp knitting machine or separately provided.

Warps 26 and wefts 27 are fed to needles 25 (see FIG. 2) in the front row and warps 29 and wefts 30 are fed to needles 28 in the rear row so as to knit two front and rear fabrics. At the same time, connecting threads 31 for connecting both fabrics are hung alternately on the front row needles 25 and rear row needles 28 (see FIGS. 6 and 3, respectively) so as to knit double fabrics. When a fabric of a required length has been knitted (FIG. 4), while the guide 8 is at the left end and the heating wire is in the position shown in broken lines 10 as shown in FIG. 5, the air cylinder 6 will be opearted to move the guide 8 rightward. In such case, as the engaging rod 13 on the left side is directed to be perpendicular to the needle bed, the heating wire 10 will be engaged with this engaging rod 13 and, when the guide 8 has reached the right end and has stopped there, the heating wire be fitted diagonally as shown by the solid lines 10. When the needles 25 or 28 on one side have risen (FIGS. 2, 3) the rotary solenoid 15 on the right side will be energized electrically to bring down the push-in rod 17 on the right side and at the same time the air cylinder 12 will be operated to rotate the engaging rod 13 on the left side as shown by 13'. Then the heating wire 10 will change to he in the position as shown by 10", will be pushed down by the rod 17, as shown in FIG. 6, into the knitted part (in such case, the engaging rod on the right side will be in the state shown by :13 and the thread will not hang on it) and will be inserted between the fabrics on both sides. After it is inserted, the fabrics on both sides will be connected together with the connecting thread 31. Therefore, the heating wire will be laterally fixed in the fabric.

The knitting of the fabric is continued in such state. When the time for inserting the heating wire comes, if the air cylinder 12 is operated to rotate the engaging rod 13 on the right side so as to be in the state shown by 13 and then the guide 8 is moved leftward, the heating Wire will be fitted in the same manner as is mentioned above. Then the rotary solenoid 15 will be operated to rotate the push-in rod 17 on the left side and the heating wire 10 will be pushed down. (In such case the left engaging rod will be in the state shown by 13' and the thread will not hang on it.)

When the above mentioned operation is repeated and the guide 8 is moved alternately rightward and leftward for each required knitted length so as to insert the heating wire 10, the wire will be integrally inserted in the fabric in an arrangement of many parallel lines. When the knitting for one blanket ends, the solenoid 24 will be operated to move the blade rod 22 so as to cut the heating wire 10.

In the apparatus of the present invention, as mentioned above, as the heating wire fitting device operates integrally with the rocking rod supporting the guide bars and the inserting devices to push down the fitted heating wire into the knitted part of the fabric are outside both ends of the needle bed so as not to interfere with the knitting operation, the heating wire can be inserted at the time of the knitting at the knitting speed in an ordinary warp knitting machine. Therefore, as the heating wire is inserted in one step without requiring such separate step as in a conventional machine, the mass-production is possible at a low cost.

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus, for use in inserting heating wire between two interconnected fabrics as the fabrics are knitted .4 on a warp knitting machine having a support and two needle beds comprising guide shaft bar means supported by said support, a guide for the heating wire supported by said guide shaft bar means, actuating means operable for moving said guide in opposite directions laterally of said fabrics, two opposite engaging rods, each engaging rod being disposed near one side of said needle beds and being rotatable between a first position wherein it is disposed at an angle to said needle beds and engages said heating wire 'When said guide is moved in opposite directions and, respectively, a second position at an angle to the first position wherein it releases said heating Wire, and a push-in rod tiltable between an inactive upright station and an active station at an angle to the inactive station and wherein it emplaces a portion of the heating Wire between the fabrics when the heating wire is released by both said engaging rods.

2. An apparatus, as claimed in claim 1, and a tension device for said heating wire comprising two guide rollers and a tension roller, all of said rollers engaging said heating wire, said tensioning roller being movable, in relation to the movement of said guide, in opposite directions in a path extending between said guide rollers thereby to adjust the slack of the heating Wires.

3. An apparatus, as claimed in claim 1, and a blade rod disposed in the path of said heating wire and being operable to cut the heating wire.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,924,649 8/1933 Morton 66-85 1,931,179 10/1933 Coombes 66- 2,967,415 1/ 1961 Ford et a1. 6 6-l9'3 3,232,080 2/ 1966- Invi 66-192 RONALD FELDBAUM, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 

